


Presents

by ItsaVikingThing



Series: Korrasami Month 2018 [8]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humour, Korrasami Month 2018, Prompt: Gift-giving
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 00:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: It is a new spiritual age, but the mingling of humans and spirits means the return of some very old traditions. One of those traditions might just cause the end of the world, if Satoru the Spirit of Presents can't complete his work tonight.Unfortunately, Satoru's work involves entering the homes of sleeping mortals, and one of those homes belongs to Lin Beifong.When the Spirit of Presents can no longer fulfil his duties, and the world is in danger, who could possibly step up and save the day...?...I mean, yeah, obviously it's Korra...





	Presents

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is brought to you by our sponsors: too little time and now I gotta go do Christmas. Please point out errors in the form below and one of our technicians will make appropriate edits later!
> 
> We hope you enjoy this fic! And the holiday season!

There were those who called it a New Spiritual Age.

With the old spirit portals opened, and a new spirit portal in Republic City, and the darkness of Vaatu dispersed, humans and spirits were beginning to learn how to live alongside one another again.

Things were different, of course. There were two worlds where there had been only one. And there were many more humans, with all the powers of bending and the machinery that human ingenuity and human cruelty could devise. The human world was a very different one from the one that was sealed from the spirits ten thousand years ago.

And, in truth, in a place as busy and as constantly in motion as Republic City, there wasn't much time given by the humans to the spirits who were taking up residence. Not at first, at least. Not more than was needed to learn how to work around the spirits. The New Spiritual Age was more of a convenient label than a profound realisation for most humans and even most spirits. The implications of the worlds being closer, of humans and spirits living together--though not quite yet in harmony--were lost on almost everyone.

But for one spirit, after ten thousand years of rest, the New Spiritual Age was nothing new at all. It was an awakening. It was a call to take up an ancient, near forgotten duty. For that spirit, the word _old_ was more fitting. Everything was old, from the spirit's sleigh, to the spirit's suit, to the spirit's sack, to the spirit's book.

The spirit was old and lost and forgotten. But the spirit had forgotten nothing. And so, four years into the New Spiritual Age, when the need was growing urgent, the spirit was finally ready to take up his duties again.

* * *

For Lin, it happens like this: she's having an unpleasant dream when she becomes aware of a noise in the real world where there should not be a noise. The sound of a person trying to be silent in Lin's living room has her awake and alert in an instant. It's late, and there shouldn't be _any_ movement in her apartment, not outside of the bedroom.

Moving with care, Lin eases out of bed and into her robe, the green one with the steel plates sewn onto the chest and shoulders. Lin hesitates, casts a look back at her bed, and--grumbling quietly--slips her feet into a very fluffy pair of blue slippers. 

A muffled thud from the living room makes her stop grumbling and start moving. Lin is the Chief of Police of Republic City. The only thing that surprises her is that it took this long for some vengeful thug to break into her home with mayhem in mind. Lin smiles grimly and takes a firm grip of the pebbles in the pocket of her robe. If whoever broke in is looking for mayhem, they'll get plenty.

She pads down the hall silently in her slippers, takes a breath, then bursts into the living room, yelling and earthbending three pebbles into the red-suited figure doing something criminal near her fireplace. The white-bearded man cries out and collapses in a heap on top of a large, bulging red linen sack. Lin takes a coil of wire from her other pocket and metalbends restraints around the housebreaker. 

Only when she's checked the rest of the apartment to make sure that no one else is lying in wait does Lin turn the unconscious man onto his back and look at his face. She's curious to see if it's someone she recognises. He isn't, but Lin does recognise _something_.

Lin frowns. "Oh, _perfect_. Now I need to wake up the Avatar."

* * *

Korra is not quite asleep when Lin calls. She's somewhere on the border between asleep and awake, held back by a sense of unease, like the precursor to a migraine or the moment that a dream slides into a nightmare. Korra doesn't have a phone in her room at Air Temple Island, but the phone is in the radio room and the radio room has either an air acolyte or a White Lotus guard in it at all times.

It's an acolyte who comes to wake Korra, only to find the Avatar up, dressed, and putting on her boots. Korra smiles at the young woman --Cixi, Korra thinks--and says, "Something's up?"

Cixi nods. "There's a call for you from Chief Beifong. She says she needs you at her apartment."

"Oh. How angry did she sound?"

"Um...she didn't say much, but I think she broke her handset when she hung up?"

"That's how Lin always hangs up. But if she's calling me round at this time...wait, to her _apartment_? Not the station?"

Cixi ducks her head. "Yes? Is that bad?"

"Bad? Maybe." Korra slowly grins. "Heh. But it could also be interesting! Okay, thanks Cixi!"

With a cheerful wave, Korra grabs her glider and jumps out the window. It's easier to fly than wait around for a ferry, and by glider it takes Korra less than five minutes to get to Lin's apartment. Korra rings the bell and waits, careful to leave no trace of a grin on her face.

When Lin opens the door she's wearing her uniform, a scowl, and a pair of very blue, very fluffy slippers. With pompoms. "Avatar. Good. I'm having some spirit trouble."

"Hey, Lin," Korra says, her neck straining to keep her head up as her eyes try to look down at Lin's footwear again. "What can I help you wi--aah!"

Korra is interrupted by Lin grabbing her collar and hauling her bodily into the living room. Lin comes to a halt, leaving Korra swaying dizzily, and points at a red-suited man with a huge white beard who is wrapped in coils of wire and sits slumped, unconscious, beside a large red bag. At first glance, the strange man could almost pass for a citizen of the Fire Nation. But the antlers poking out from under the brim of his floppy red hat lead Korra to a different conclusion.

"He's a spirit!" Korra blinks at Lin. "Why...did you kidnap a spirit?"

"I did not! I took custody of an intruder!"

"Huh." Korra looks around, seeing no broken glass or splinters or chips of stone. "How'd he get in?"

"I don't know! And _I'll_ be asking the questions, Korra!"

"He has soot on his suit," a new voice says around a yawn. "He probably came down through the chimney."

Korra whips her head round in the direction of the door which leads to Lin's bedroom. Kya is standing there, stretching. Korra whips her head to look anywhere else. "Oh! Hey! Kya! Nice to see you! And your, uh, negligee...which is just so stylish! And frilly! And, uh, transparent..."

Lin audibly grinds her teeth. "Kya! I thought I told you to stay in bed!"

"I thought you knew I don't do what I'm told, Linny?"

Korra gasps. "She calls you Linny?"

"No, she does not!" Lin snaps.

"Not even Chief Linny...?"

Kya strolls into the edge of Korra's vision. "Oh, I call her all kinds of things! I'll have to try to Chief Linny, though...that'll be new."

" _Kya_!" Lin's face is as red as the strange spirit's suit. "Can we not have this conversation in front of--"

"Lin, please! I think Korra knows what's going on between us by now!"

"I _meant_ in front of the _spirit_. And you don't know what Korra--"

Korra clears her throat. "I mean, yeah. I didn't _know_. But I suspected. Along with, uh, moooost of the city?"

"See?" Kya laughs. "Nothing to worry about!"

Lin glares at them both. Her grinding teeth sound like a glacier calving an iceberg. Kya sighs and walks behind Lin, where she begins to gently rub her shoulders. "Shh, darling. I know you're mad because you want to kick Korra out and you can't because of the strange spirit. So let's deal with the spirit, and then we can both kick Korra out and go back to bed. That'll be nice, won't it?"

Lin grunts. Her shoulders relax and the tension eases out of her jaw. "Fine. You. Avatar. Go be a bridge."

Korra sighs. "Right, right, fine! Let's get some water and wake this spirit up."

* * *

The spirit gasps, chokes, and sits up, sputtering.

Korra rolls her eyes at Lin. "I was going to bend it? In a healing way?"

Lin shrugs, putting the now empty bucket by the fireplace. "Throwing it seemed faster."

The spirit gasps, "What day is it?"

Korra frowns. "Uh, still the same one. You've been out maybe half an hour." The spirit struggles against his bonds, trying to stand. Korra puts her hand on his shoulder and eases him down. "Hey, slow down. We need to have a little talk, okay? I'm Avatar Korra. You are...?"

"Satoru. The Spirit of Presents."

Korra blinks. "Huh. Okay. So you were breaking in to Lin's house to... _give_ her stuff?"

"Not stuff! A present! And I didn't break in! I was--"

Lin snorts. "I'm the Chief of Police, spirit. I'll be writing the official report. Guess which of us gets to decide which crime you were committing?"

"Not...me?" Satoru ventures. He winces, easing himself into a different position. 

"Correct. Now since you're in an answering frame of mind, why are you...doing what you're doing?"

Satoru groans. "Because when the fates of spirits and mortals become closely entwined, there is a...a ravelling. Fates can become entangled, and if they become too closely enmeshed, then the Foreboding will sever the strands of fate, and a new weave will begin."

Korra glances at Kya and Lin. "I'm not the only one who heard the capital F, right? In Foreboding?" Kya and Lin exchange a look. They turn to Korra and nod. "Oooh, wonderful. What...is this foreboding?"

"No, no, it is the Foreboding!"

Kya sighs. "There it is again."

"Look," Korra says warily, "we're trying to understand, but this isn't making much sense. It sounds bad, sure! But you're not, uh, giving us..."

"Probable cause," Lin supplies.

"Right!"

Satoru takes a deep breath, wincing in pain. "The Foreboding is as old as Fate, and is as powerful, though less inclined to act. When the Foreboding acts, it is decisive. When the patterns of Fate become too densely woven, too constricting, too _certain_ , then the Foreboding ends all things, freeing them to be renewed. The mingling of the two worlds after all this time has begun to see the Fates of mortals and spirits mixed. The pattern is...too densely woven. The Foreboding is stirring, in anticipation of having to act."

Korra purses her lips. "Yeah, okay. World's ending. Been there, stopped that. So what's your role in all this? And how does giving people gifts help? Less metaphors this time, please!"

Lin holds up a hand. "You're just accepting all of this on his word?"

Korra shrugs. "No. But...for weeks now, I've been having these headaches. And these...dreams. Well, maybe not dreams, more like--"

"Nightmares," Kya murmurs, rubbing the back of her neck. "I, uh, I've been having nightmares. Ones I can't really remember when I wake up, but...I've only slept well here, with Linny."

Lin puts an arm around Kya's waist and kisses her cheek. She freezes, then glares defiantly at Korra.

"C'mon, Lin! I'm happy for you both."

Lin sniffs, but her glare softens and her arm remains around Kya's waist. "Right. Well. I...was having trouble sleeping earlier. Bad dreams."

Satoru nods. "The Foreboding. When it begins to stir, it sends out...ripples. It can create nightmares, it can--"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Korra waves a hand. "The clue is in the name. Why is breaking into Linny's house helping? I mean Chief Beifong! Definitely that and not anything else I might have, but probably didn't, say!"

While Lin glares at Korra, Satoru says, "I do not give gifts. I give presents. I make sure everyone has the right present, so that they will have options for their future. It...loosens the weave, which allows the balance between--"

"Yup, okay, got it! Thanks! Present as in right now. Yet also somehow you're giving them like presents? But...never mind. That seems like a big job for one spirit. How long have you been working on this? And how long do you have until the Foreboding stops being fore and becomes now? At...which point I guess everything becomes then and then we have a new now? Although, I guess _we_ won't have a new now, because our world will have ended, and--"

Kya pats Korra's shoulder. "You stopped being helpful a few sentences ago. Let the nice, if creepy, spirit answer?"

Satoru blinks his jet black, red-flecked eyes. "I am not...creepy. I merely move silently through people's homes while they slumber, to deliver them their presents while they lie, vulnerable and unaware, and..." Satoru frowns. "I begin to see the issue you are having with how I perform my duties."

Kya switches shoulders and gives the spirit a pat. "Korra's questions?"

"I began when the sun went down. I must complete my task before the sun rises. Although I fear, between the time lost, and my injuries, that I will be unable to complete my task. I have failed us all..."

Lin glares at Korra. "Well, thank you _so_ much for unlocking those spirit portals, Korra!"

Korra folds her arms and glares back. "Thanks for assaulting the Spirit Of Home Invasion But For The Purpose Of Saving The World!"

Satoru stirs. "I..." When Korra and Lin glare at _him_ , he winces and meekly concludes, "I will take it."

Kya steps between Korra and Lin. "Hold on, hold on! There has to be _something_ we can do. I mean, one night to deliver presents to everyone seems impossible, even with another hour! Are you saying you don't have some spiritual power that lets you pull that off? Is it one you can extend to us? We could help make deliveries! And Korra and I are healers. We can help you with your injury!"

Satoru shakes his head. "It is...not that simple. It has been more than ten thousand years since I was required. Since the moment that Vaatu and Raava were severed, I have been dormant. My...strength has faded. The injuries to my mortal frame are slight, but tax me greatly in addition to the burden of my diminished spiritual energy. It was because of this that I faltered, and was detected here by the mortal, Linny."

"I won't take being called that by anyone else!" Lin snarls.

Kya kisses her on the cheek. "Shh, love! So you're out of power, Satoru?"

"It will take me too many hours to recover the energy to use my tools. All of my powers are granted through my tools. But I am unique, mortal, and I alone may wield them. For I am a spirit, true, but my body is made mortal this night, so that I may understand the nature of both humans and spirits. So that I may belong to both worlds, and work within them. There is no other being like me."

Kya slowly turns to look at Korra. "Oh! That _is_ a problem. But maybe we can work something out. Please do go on! Tell us about these tools."

Korra looks at Kya. "What."

Satoru sighs. "My sleigh makes it possible for me to travel the worlds swiftly and invisibly to mortal eyes, but when I was rendered unconscious, my Sleet Deer fled. It would take a mighty beast to pull my sleigh, one bonded to both the worlds! Where could we find such a creature? At this late hour?"

Kya grins. "Where indeed? What else?"

Korra shakes her head. "No, come on! What?"

"My sack holds all the presents, but knowing which to give to whom is impossible for anyone other than me. Not without the Book of Presents, at least. To me, the Book is...well, it is like an open book, no matter where it resides. But for anyone else, they would have to _have_ the Book. And it is lost. I cannot imagine who might have taken it or where it may have gone."

"Hmm," Kya says, winking at Korra. "Where would a unique, powerful spirit book end up? We could look for _years_ and never find it!"

Korra buries her face in her hands. "I don't _wanna_ go to that stupid library!"

Satoru, sunk in gloom, continues. "Even with my book, and my hat which slows time for a spirit in a mortal body on this night alone, and my suit which is red to protect my mortal body from the energies of my hat, and my beard, which has hooks so that I might hang it from my ears and which also allows me to pass through narrow spaces such as chimneys--"

"Nope!" Korra shakes her head frantically. "Not happening! No way! Kya--"

Kya raises a hand. Her eyes dance with delight. "Hush, Korra! Satoru, you were saying?"

Satoru sighs. "With the time that remains, it would require a being of incredible spiritual energy to use my tools to their fullest to complete the present-giving. And that being would also need to be able to pilot my sleigh with skill beyond any mortal's grasp, for it is both incredibly swift and it _flies_ , mortals! Who among you could even fathom such a thing?"

Kya rubs her hands together briskly. "I wonder?"

Korra groans. "I'm not wearing his suit! You can't make me, not even to save the world!"

"Would any red suit do, Satoru?" Kya asks sweetly.

"Yes...it is only the colour that matters. But my tools only work on this one night! There is no possible way that we could find anyone who could--"

Lin suddenly chuckles. "Oh, dear. Poor Korra. If only you knew someone who could drive and had red clothes they could lend you..."

"Mmm," Kya hums happily. "If only there was someone you went on a Spirit World vacation with, maybe? Who you somehow haven't asked on a second date yet? In spite of the fact that everyone in the city knows you want to?"

"I don't have to save the world, you know!" Korra glares at an increasingly smug Lin and Kya. "Not if you're gonna be meanies!"

Satoru coughs. "But...it is impossible. We are all doomed."

Kya sighs. "I guess if Korra can't ask Asami for a date, uh, sorry! I mean for her help! Then we really are doomed."

Korra snatches the hat from Satoru's head. "Fiiiine! I'll save the stupid world wearing a stupid hat and a stupid beard and I'll ask Asami for help because stupid Lin broke the stupid Spirit of Presents! But only if you both shut up! And this is the one and only time I'm doing this!"

Kya nudges Lin and whispers, "Aww! She didn't call Asami stupid!"

"Shut! Up! Okay, Satoru..." Korra groans. "Gimme the stupid beard. And tell me how all this stupid stuff works. And then Lin and Kya will give you a lesson on what it means to be the stupid Avatar."

* * *

"It's not like I don't _want_ to ask Asami out on a date," Korra explains to Naga as the polar bear dog pulls Satoru's sleigh through the snowy streets of Republic City. "It's just...when it was the two of us, in the Spirit World, we were...well, we were equals. Kinda. I mean...money didn't matter. And it doesn't _matter_ , really! But...but I'd like to be able to afford to take Asami on more than one date, and I'm the stupid Avatar. I don't make any money!"

Naga pants solemnly.

"I know! I know! It's dumb, but..." Korra strokes her beard thoughtfully. "I wanna be able to at least try to be her equal in this world, too. And...and...I guess I 'm just nervous. In the spirit world it was so, uh, well..."

Naga barks inquisitively.

Korra sighs. "It was really nice. Asami is really nice. I really like her, girl. I mean I...I, uh, like her."

Naga wags her tail.

"Glad you approve! Okay, so...if we save the world, I'll ask her to dinner!"

Naga whines.

"Huh. Good point. Better make it breakfast!"

* * *

Asami steps out of the front door of the mansion and freezes. "Uh..."

What appears to be Korra is sitting in a large, intricately carved red sleigh being pulled by Naga. Naga barks cheefully at Asami. Korra waves sheepishly and tugs at her beard.

Because Korra has a large, white beard. And she's wearing a strange red hat...

Asami purses her lips. "Korra. Lin said it was urgent, but...what is happening?"

Korra hangs her head. She begins to explain everything that happened in Lin's apartment. After a couple of minutes, Asami holds up her hand. "Stop. Wait there a minute?"

She goes back into the mansion, runs to her room and ransacks one of her wardrobes. She jogs back outside with an armful of clothes and dumps them in the back of the sleigh, next to a large red bag.

Korra raises her eyebrows.

Asami smiles at her. "We're short on time. You can explain the rest while you get changed and while I get some practice driving this thing."

Even behind a beard, Korra's grin is dazzling. It makes Korra blue, blue eyes light up like the beam of a lighthouse falling on the waves. And that makes Asami's knees shaky enough that it takes her two goes to boost herself into the sleigh.

* * *

"So we need to go to the Spirit Library of Wan Shi Tong? Isn't he...not the biggest fan of, well, the Avatar?"

Korra, now wearing one of Asami's red jackets--which, Asami carefully tries not to notice, is quite tight around Korra's chest--tries to roll her shoulders and winces. "Uh, he is not. Then again..." She cracks her knuckles. "This Avatar hasn't forgotten that he gave Jinora to Unalaq and Vaatu. So I'm not a big fan of him."

"This doesn't seem like a time for grudges, Korra. We only have a few hours to do...something I'm not entirely clear on yet."

Korra grunts and twists around, reaching into the red bag. She scrabbles around for a few second before she produces a small, neatly wrapped box. "We gotta give the right ones of these to all of the right people in the world. Tonight. And then...uh, that's it, basically. These presents will turn into futures, and if everybody doesn't get one, then nobody will have one?"

Asami considers that. After a second, she decides that there doesn't seem to be much point in asking further questions about something which makes no logical sense. She decides to simply trust Korra. With the possible exception of the fact that it's been weeks since they left the Spirit World and Korra hasn't exactly come out and asked Asami for an actual, official date...Asami has never found her faith in Korra to be misplaced.

To Korra she says, "Okay. So...to the Spirit World?"

"Yeah."

Asami nods. She gathers the reins in her hands. She whispers, "To the Spirit Library of Wan Shi Tong, please."

Naga barks. She increases her pace, from a trot to a flat out run. The sleigh begins to accelerate, and it doesn't stop, not even when the world begins to blur around them and all Asami can see are streaks of grey light and all she can hear are hers and Korra's screams.

* * *

They arrive--with their screams--at the other end of the tunnel of light. Asami blinks and looks around. She's still sitting on the sleigh, clutching the reins, but where previously they were on a Republic City road outside her mansion, now they hang suspended in the tomb-like air of a vast building. Bookshelves fill the building, bookshelves taller than some buildings, wider than city blocks, crammed full of books.

It's quiet, almost stifling, in the Spirit Library. Apart from the screaming. Asami shakes her head. She stops screaming. In a croaky voice she says, "Well, we made it! I guess..."

Naga paws experimentally at the air. She looks back at Korra, her tongue lolling out as she grins, and wags her tail.

Korra puts a hand on Asami's arm, and even through a pair of Asami's gloves and the sleeve of Asami's jacket, Asami can feel the heat of Korra's skin. "You okay, Asami?"

"Yeah." Asami shivers. "That was...abrupt. But I'll be ready next time. And, uh...hey. We're in the Spirit World. Again."

Korra's eyes widen. "Oh. So we are..."

Heat builds in the air between them. Asami licks her lips. Carefully she reaches up and adjusts the hang of Korra's beard. "It was a good vacation, wasn't it?"

"Yeah...it really was."

"I was thinking it might be nice if--"

A shadow falls over them. Something very large and very fast swoops down towards them.

Asami's instincts take over. She grabs the reins and tugs to the left. Naga responds instantly, twisting away in mid-air as is she was running on solid ground, and the sleigh comes out from under the swooping thing a fraction of a second before it passes through the space they were sitting. Displaced air rocks Asami in her seat, pressing her shoulder against Korra's. And then, with a snap of wings, the huge black bird spirit turns. It swings round towards them, coming to a halt barely a foot away from Asami.

Wan Shi Tong growls, "Who dares disturb my library? Yet another mortal? I would have thought by now that you would know the consequences."

Asami takes a deep breath, but before she can answer she hears two sharp pops as Korra cracks her neck. Asami looks at Korra. Korra stares at the Spirit of the Library, and Asami can _see_ the heat haze shimmering around Korra.

Korra slowly stands up. "I've heard of how you treat children who visit, yeah."

There's a pause. Wan Shi Tong focuses on Korra. "What...are you?"

"Don't you know, oh mighty spirit of intellect?" Korra's voice is colder than Asami has ever heard it. But after a quick breath, Korra looks at Asami. Even behind her beard, Asami can see Korra's jaw relax. "I'm...Satoru. And I'm here for my book. I don't have much time, so be a good librarian and fetch it right away."

Wan Shi Tong hisses. "You would be wise to take a different tone--"

"You'd be wise to stop stalling," Korra growls. "I want my book. Now."

Asami clears her throat. "How have your dreams been lately, Wan Shi Tong?"

The spirit blinks. Inasmuch as a being with a face like an eagle owl's can look uncertain, Wan Shi Tong begins to look uncertain. "My...dreams? I...they have been...filled with foreboding..."

Korra leans forward. "Come on, I _know_ you recognise this beard! No one could forget it. And I know you know _exactly_ what book I mean. And if you're half as clever as you think you are, you know what's going to happen if I don't get it."

"Very well," Wan Shi Tong mutters sulkily. "But if either of you return to the Spirit Library, I will take great pleasure--"

"If I return to this place," Korra says, "it'll be because you've been up to no good again. And it will not be pleasant for you, Wan Shi Tong. It won't be pleasant at all. Because I won't be alone. Only a few beings know you sided with Vaatu so far. _But that could change_."

There is silence in the Spirit Library, until a fox spirit comes racing up a nearby pillar towards them, a large leatherbound tome in its mouth. Asami leans out of the sleigh, keenly aware of Wan Shi Tong's beak near her arm. She takes the book from the fox spirit and passes it to Korra.

Korra opens the book and flips through it, muttering under breath. "Okay. Good. Here we go!"

She reaches into the bag and produces a lump of something black, something that looks to Asami like a piece of coal. She tosses it towards Wan Shi Tong. "Here's your present."

The spirit gasps, but quickly plucks it out of the air with one huge talon.

Asami gathers up the reins and looks at Korra. Korra nods at her.

When they're moving, Korra says, "Be _good_ , Wan Shi Tong."

The spirit looks away.

* * *

Naga takes them up, straight up, through the centre of the library and through the opening in the tower at the very top of the massive structure. When they are out under some kind of sky, in the world of the spirits, Asami asks, "Are you okay?"

Korra sighs. "Yeah. I am now, yeah." She gently bumps Asami's shoulder. "Thanks."

Asami smiles at her. She leans her shoulder against Korra's, pleased when Korra leans further into her. "Where to now?"

Korra opens the book. "Uh...almost everywhere? Some of the names are crossed off, like...actually most of the spirit world seems done. And some of ours, too. Oh, hey! There's Linny and Kya!"

"Linny?"

"Heh. They're pretty cute together! Well, uh, Kya is kinda cute, and Lin is Lin, but...she clearly loves Kya, or she wouldn't wear those slippers."

"Korra? Pick a destination." Asami grins. "Then tell me everything about Kya, Lin and the slippers on the way!"

Korra laughs. She closes the book with a snap. "To the North Pole!"

This time, when the tunnel of grey light opens, Asami is too busy listening to Korra and laughing to bother screaming.

* * *

"So how does this work?"

Korra looks up from the book into Asami's calm green eyes. She stops breathing for a second, because she always needs a second to process how _beautiful_ Asami is, and her brain simply doesn't have the capacity to spare for trivial things like breathing during that second. It occurs to Korra that Asami believes that they can pull this off. That _Korra_ can step into the metaphorical shoes and literal beard of a strange spirit and save the worlds from the Foreboding in the next few hours.

Korra carefully closes the book. "It _should_ go like this. The book tells me who and where, the bag will always have the person I'm thinking of's present near the top, the hat will make it easy to get inside where I need to leave the presents and the, uh, beard will let me do it all in no time at all."

Asami nods. "Okay. We're starting with the palace?"

Korra blinks. It occurs to her that _she_ is beginning to believe that they can pull this off, because Asami believes it. It occurs to her that she should just _ask_ Asami about breakfast. Right now! "...yeah, we'll start with the palace!"

Naga gives her a reproachful look when Korra hops out of the sleigh onto the palace roof. Korra sticks her tongue out at her polar bear dog, although that just leads to her getting a mouthful of beard.

* * *

To Asami, it seems as if Korra leaps out of the sleigh only to leap back in a second later. "What's wrong?"

Korra strokes her beard. "Well...this thing really itches, I think I tore your jacket, I think a little girl almost saw me, and moving around in there when everyone was just...standing around like statues was _weird_." Korra shudders. "But other than that, it went fine!"

"You've done the whole palace?"

"Yeah." Korra blinks a few times. "I feel...dizzy but okay?"

"Well...let me know if you need to rest."

"Nah, I'm fine! Let's do the ice houses on that canal next!"

Asami smiles. She clicks her tongue at Naga, who begins to trot in the desired direction. "Whatever you say, Satoru Korra!"

* * *

Time passes, but it doesn't feel like regular time. Partly that's because Korra's beard gives her a near infinite quantity of time on this night, and she needs every second of it to slip into people's houses and leave their presents where they won't get trampled on. Most of the presents are wrapped in boxes, but some are lumps of what looks like coal.

According to Satoru, the presents will remain intact until morning, and then their physical aspect will melt away. Because of course, once people have their presents, they'll begin building their futures. Futures hopefully free from Foreboding.

So all the time Korra spends in timelessness, leaving boxes and pieces of coal exactly where they need to be left is one reason why the night feels so different to Korra. And the fact that she's being sped around the world on a spirit sleigh being pulled by Naga as she visits palaces and hovels, caves and apartments, prison cells and merchant vessels and all the places where people live or work or rest, that certainly adds to the strangeness of it all.

But the main thing that makes the night feel timeless, even when Korra isn't using the power of Satoru's hat, is that she's spending the night talking and laughing with Asami. Somehow the madness of what Korra's doing merely feels like an adventure, like a story in the making. And Korra knows that no one else in the worlds of mortals or spirits could make a night as strange and frightening as this one feel _fun_ instead. So Korra gets through the night, delivering presents as swiftly as she can so that she can return to the sleigh.

Because in the sleigh, Korra sits pressed close to Asami's side, not because there isn't room for them both on the sleigh, but because they both want to be close to each other. In the sleigh, as in the Spirit World, it's just the two of them, sharing the wonders and the dangers. It's just the two of them, separated by a few layers of clothing and nothing else.

And yet...and yet the sun is coming. The night is a long one, but even this night must end. And even when the sleigh is taking them back to Republic City, the knowledge of the coming tomorrow makes Korra hold back from asking Asami to breakfast.

* * *

"Y'know, I could draw a moustache on Raiko's face. He'd never know it was me." Korra tugs at her beard. She bumps Asami's shoulder. "Should I draw a moustache on Raiko's face?"

"He already has a moustache, Korra," Asami says, smiling and bumping her back.

"I could give him a better one!"

"I don't think that's what you should be using the powers that the spirits granted you for, Korra. And you know Raiko has a press conference tomorrow."

"Fiiiiine."

"Korra?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a pen I use for engineering projects in my pocket. The ink won't wash off skin for days. You should draw glasses on Raiko's face, instead."

"...because he'll need to change his glasses so he can read his speech! Genius! I'm so glad you're with me for this!"

Asami turns to Korra. She smiles at the sight of her, wearing a huge white beard, stuffed into too tight clothes and a strange hat, but still so undeniably _Korra_. Korra has changed a lot since they first met, but all the things that drew Asami to her in the first place are still there. And the changes have only made it clearer to Asami how important Korra is to her, how important it is that Asami has Korra in all her Korra-ness in her life. So without really thinking about the words, Asami softly says, "I'm with you for anything and everything, Korra."

And if Korra wasn't wearing a beard, Asami is pretty sure that she would kiss Asami right there and then.

* * *

Dawn isn't far off when at last even Satoru's bag is emptied. Or rather, _almost_ emptied. The last two boxes in the bag Korra tucks into the pockets of the jacket she borrowed from Asami. When Asami asks "Where next?" Korra tells her, "Lin's place."

All three of them are drooping with fatigue when Naga brings their sleigh to a halt outside the door of Lin's apartment complex. Korra's limbs feel like her bones have been replaced with lead, and she's pretty sure once she falls asleep, she'll sleep for a week, but she has three last things to do before tonight becomes today. She has to deliver the last present. She has to return Satoru's tools to him, and make sure that Lin isn't going to put him in a cell.

And Korra has to figure out how to ask a simple question.

Beside her, Asami stifles a yawn and asks, "Are we done?"

"Almost. With maybe a whole minute to spare!"

Asami smiles. "Never doubted you'd make it."

" _We_ made it. I couldn't have done it without you. Especially the drawing on Raiko's face part."

Asami chuckles. She stretches, then reaches into the silky mass of her long black hair and tosses it over her shoulder. "Well, I never doubted that we'd make it, either."

Korra was already staring at Asami quite intently, but that statement makes her stop breathing all over again. "Huh, oh! Uh, I...Asami, I..." Korra shakes herself. "The sun's coming up! I'd better give you your present!"

Korra reaches into the pocket where she left the box, but to her horror, it's gone. "No, no, no! It was right here, I can't have lost it!"

"Korra." Asami smiles at her. She calmly unhooks the beard from Korra's ears and tosses it into the back of the sleigh. "My present is right here. My future, too. It's you."

She puts her hands on Korra's cheeks and leans in close and kisses Korra like she has no plans of ever kissing anyone else.

After a long, long time in which the sun comes up and the world doesn't end, Asami pulls away.

Korra sighs happily. She no longer feels tired, or heavy, or afraid. She takes Asami's hand and grins at her. "So, uh, wanna get breakfast? Which...is not as good a line as yours. Because, honestly? My heart's still racing! But, uh, I mean...it's practical, because we need to eat, and it'd be a date, soo..."

Asami laughs and kisses Korea again. "Let's give Satoru his things, and then you can get changed, and then...I'd love to go on a breakfast date with you, Korra!"

And that's what they do, stopping now and then and here and there to kiss each other, not because they've saved the world and feel giddy, but because they're in love with each other and they want to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks very much for reading, folks!
> 
> I hope you're having a great day, however you're spending it! All the best to you, and see you in the comments! :)


End file.
